At the beginning of June, the employees from Deutsche Windtechnik carried out a large-scale offshore inspection campaign using automated drone technology.
The deployment included the periodic inspection of the rotor blades at the Butendiek offshore wind farm, which is fitted with 80 Siemens SWT 3.6-120 wind turbines, using a DJI M300 RTK drone. The DJI M300 RTK drone had previously been upgraded with customised camera and sensor technology. The entire inspection procedure is based on the new BSH specification called "Requirements for Rotor Blade Inspections Using Remote Optical Inspection Procedures and Clarification of the Inspection Obligation for the Interior of the Rotor Blade and the Lightning Protection System". According to this specification, 50% of an offshore wind farm's turbines can be inspected using a drone each year. Subsequently, 8% of these turbines are additionally inspected using rope access technology after a detailed review of the documented drone footage by the inspection experts.
